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Earlier this month, Gov. John Baldacci unveiled a budget proposal aimed at reducing the state’s revenue shortfall. The biennial budget, covering fiscal years 2010 and 2011, is $200 million less than the last biennial budget, and reduces spending for higher education by 2.4 percent.
The budget cuts come on the heels of spending freezes at the university level and reductions in the amount of grant money offered by the Finance Authority of Maine.
The day after the proposed budget was announced, University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude released a plan to achieve financial stability for the system. The plan calls for the creation of a task force to assess cost-cutting measures and recommend structural reorganization.
The report, titled “New Challenges, New Directions: Achieving Long-Term Financial Stability,” is meant to address what is expected to be a $42.8 million revenue gap in the next four years – if the UM System proceeds on its present course.
Pattenaude said in a press release, “The university system must pursue deeper and broader change that ensures its academic quality and service to Maine, maintains affordability for undergraduate and graduate students, and achieves operating efficiencies and cost-reductions. We have no choice.”
In November, the university had to cut $6.5 million from its 2008-to-2009 budget to help balance the system budget, in addition to $5.3 million already cut earlier that month by order of Baldacci. On Dec. 1, the Finance Authority of Maine, which distributes grants to students, reduced the State of Maine Grant by $60 per student. On campus, Faculty Senate has discussed moving to a four-day workweek to reduce energy costs and many departments have instituted hiring freezes. The UM System recently failed an affordability review by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
The proposed budget, which has yet to pass into legislation, would provide $536 million to fund higher education, which includes the University of Maine System, the Community College System and Maine Maritime Academy. The University of Maine System funding would be cut $5,028,700 from the last biennial budget.
The budget also suggests combining more purchases with the state of Maine in order to further reduce costs. While the biennial budget has not yet made it into committee, the Education and Cultural Affairs committee “reluctantly” approved the proposed education cuts in the supplemental budget.
“During these incredibly difficult economic times, the governor worked very hard to limit reductions to higher education,” said a spokesperson for the governor. If the budget becomes law, it will be the first biennial budget in at least 35 years that is smaller than the one before it.
John Diamond, a spokesperson for the university system, said the system is dedicated to providing an affordable education and that “one of the primary goals of the chancellor is to minimize the impact [of any restructuring] on the students.”
According to Diamond, the system may save money by centralizing departments, but no campuses will be closed. The number of campuses in the University of Maine System is dictated in state law, and so far neither the governor’s office nor the legislature has made any indication they want to close any campus.
“The plan is to maintain seven universities and seven presidents,” Diamond said.
A cost-saving measure that may be investigated is online courses, which Diamond described as “high quality” alternatives “to some face-to-face classes.” A four-day workweek has not, as of yet, been discussed at the system level.
